Forever in a Day
by Sir Perfluous
Summary: Kendall's newest experimental charger has caused an unexpected temporal distortion. Now out of their element, Chase and Koda find themselves trapped in a literal race against time.
1. Out of Time

_**A/N: So it's been a while since I've done any Dino Charge stories. I figured why not have a little more fun with my favorite trio of characters and put a classic sci-fi spin on it. This little short story is set during Dino Super Charge, and connected to my other fic "The Good Guys Wear Black."**_

 _ **That said, I do not own Power Rangers, its characters, or any of its related intellectual property.**_

* * *

"Chase! Are you even paying attention?"

Chase Randall turned away from his idle daydreams as he felt Koda give him a little nudge in the side, bringing him back to reality. All the Black Ranger could do was give an apologetic smile to the young bespectacled woman behind the lab table. "Oh! Sorry Kendall, um... what were you saying?"

The scientist sighed and shook her head again as she regarded the other Dino Charge Rangers gathered in the lab for a quick morning meeting. "I was saying that I'm going to need some help with a new charger I'm developing. If I can get some work done today, it may be ready for testing by this afternoon."

"Oh. You have another experimental device?" Tyler asked with a hint of nervousness in his voice, "Um... yay?"

Kendall stopped and gave the Red Ranger a slight frown, "Is something wrong? You don't sound too happy to hear it."

Shelby stepped forward and put a hand on Tyler's arm, "Ms. Morgan, we're not unhappy. We're just nervous... and maybe a little terrified. Remember the Super Charger Mark 1 incident?"

Kendall gave Shelby a scowl as Ivan leaned over toward Riley and asked in a whisper, "Super Charger? What trouble is Lady Shelby referring to?"

The young Green Ranger crossed his arms and explained quietly, "The last time we helped Ms. Morgan with an experiment, we wound up dealing with an evil clone of Chase from an alternate reality... um, trust me. It wasn't a fun experience for any of us."

Kendall cleared her throat, "All right. The last experiment was a bit of a disaster... but the important thing is, I fixed it, right? You have my word, this time my goal is a little more reasonable."

The other Rangers exchanged a skeptical look before Koda asked, "Uh, what does new charger do?"

Kendall held up a turquoise colored charger along with a new gunmetal gray prototype morpher and gave a proud little smile, "Along with this upgraded revolver, this little charger is designed to create a limited 10 second bubble that will allow you to suspend the fabric of space time."

"Wait! The charger slows down time itself?" Shelby gasped incredulously, "Oh sure, that sounds a lot more reasonable to me."

While the others wavered, the Black Ranger stepped forward and picked up the new prototype morpher, "Sounds fun to me. Count me in."

Tyler put a hand on Chase's shoulder, "Chase, do you really think this is a good idea? I mean, remember what happened last time you volunteered to be Ms. Morgan's guinea pig? We almost mistook you for Bizzaro Chase."

"I have to concur with Sir Tyler on this," Ivan added with a serious expression, "Is this really wise?"

The Black Ranger shrugged and gave his friends a confident smile, "Probably not, but Kendall needs our help."

The other Rangers stared at him until he continued, "Listen, I know there are dangers involved when we're trying out new tech, but think about it. She's developing these weapons and gadgets to help us fight the monsters and keep us safe out there. If this works, can you imagine what we can do if we're able to manipulate time during a battle... even for just a few seconds?"

"For once, he actually has a good point," Riley grudgingly conceded, "We could set up a finishing attack, or prevent some major disaster."

"Exactly," Chase grinned clapping Riley's shoulder, "So, that's why we have to try and trust Kendall... is anyone else with me?"

The others continued to hesitate until Koda stepped forward, "If Chase not scared, then I help Kendall too."

Kendall gave a surprised look, then graced her first two Rangers with an appreciative smile, "Thanks you two. If everyone else is still uneasy with the idea, then I won't force you to help. In the mean time, I'm going to finish this project, so I'll need everyone's help around the museum today."

* * *

Later that day after work, Chase and Koda entered the basement lab to find Kendall putting the finishing touches on her newest charger. As they entered, she shook out her hands from handling her delicate instruments and took one last look at the charger, "Chase and Koda… there you are. I just finished up with the last calibrations so you're both right on time."

"Right one time? Me?" Chase laughed as he picked up the new dino morpher from the lab table and studied it, "That can't be a good sign."

He began twirling it around like a cowboy gunslinger before Kendall grabbed the gun away and gave him a reproving frown "Please don't joke about that. I'm being serious right now."

The Black Ranger raised his hands contritely as Kendall began hooking up cords and plugs to the revolver so she could take data readings while in use.

"Uh… what we do now Kendall?" Koda asked curiously as he studied the turquoise charger and gave it a little sniff too.

"Like I said, this charger is designed to create a small bubble in which you can suspend the flow of time for 10 seconds," she answered stepping clear and connecting her laptop to the other cables, "I'm going to need one of you to test the charger and create a time bubble around you while the other keeps watch from outside."

Both Rangers looked at each other for a long moment before Chase sighed and shook his head, "Oh, fine! I'll try the charger out."

As he took the charger in hand, he morphed into his ranger suit and stood clear of the others at the opposite side of the lab.

To his surprise, Koda stepped forward and tied a sturdy cable around the Black Ranger's waist. "Just in case something go wrong… I pull you out."

Chase nodded appreciatively and loaded the charger into the new morpher with a gulp, "Thanks mate. Let's just hope it doesn't come to that, ok?"

After a few more moments of punching keys on the laptop, Kendall looked up and gave a nervous nod.

"Here goes nothing," the Black Ranger muttered pointing the blaster at an empty wall and pulling the trigger. To his surprise, the pistol kicked back with a powerful recoil and a bright orb of blue light erupted in front of him, enveloping the Ranger in a shimmering bubble of energy.

"Sweet as…" Chase exclaimed looking outside the bubble in real time only to see both Kendall and Koda move in slow motion. They might have been speaking, but to him it sounded distorted and muffled.

Meanwhile, outside the bubble, Koda watched in fear and wonder as the time bubble glowed and Chase's movements within appeared to flicker in and out of phase. Glancing over to Kendall, he saw the scientist begin to frown and type feverishly at her keyboard.

"Everything ok, Kendall?"

"No Koda... it's not," Kendall replied as she checked the new data and felt her pulse quicken, "Something's happening to the time bubble... it's destabilizing."

Koda wasn't quite sure what that meant, but based on Kendall's expression and the tone of her voice, it sounded like a bad thing. If something bad was happening, that meant Chase was in danger too, so he did what he believed to be the most reasonable thing... he pulled at the tether cord.

As he gave a hard tug, the caveman blinked in surprise as the cord flew from the bubble while the Black Ranger remained within, looking about in confusion. While the unstable pocket of energy began to ripple, Kendall watched in horror as Koda moved toward the bubble and reached out.

"Koda! No! You'll get caught in the rift, and we don't know what's going to happen!"

The cavemen shook his head resolutely and turned back toward his fellow Ranger. "No. Chase is my friend. I help him too!"

From his place inside the swirling time bubble, Chase blinked as he saw Koda suddenly appear in front of him and begin to move normally again.

"Koda... mate, what are you doing? What's happening?"

The Blue Ranger looked around in confusion before giving a frown at the bubble. "I not know."

Whatever was going on, Chase decided to end the experiment. He hit a lever to disengage the charger from the gun but found that it was stuck in place. The charger wouldn't budge at all! Had there been some malfunction with the equipment? They didn't have any more time to speculate. In an instant, the two friends grabbed each other as the time bubble surged and dazzled them both with a blinding white light.

 ***Loop***

"Chase! Are you even paying attention?"

Chase blinked again as he met the glare of Kendall from across her lab table. He abruptly turned his head to look around and realize he was back in the lab, unmorphed... with the other Rangers again. Beside him, Koda looked about seemingly just as confused. As the others stared at him, Chase blinked and looked around in confusion, "Um... no. Sorry. What were you saying?"

Kendall shook her head with a sigh, "I was saying that I'm going to need some help with a new charger I'm developing. If I can get some work done today, it may be ready for testing by this afternoon."

Before Tyler could speak, Koda frowned in confusion, "But we did already! We just helped you right now."

Kendall blinked in surprise, "I'm not sure how Koda. I haven't even told you what the new charger does yet."

The Black Ranger put a calming hand on Koda and gestured for him to be silent as Kendall held up a new prototype morpher with a gunmetal gray color, "I've developed a turquoise dino charger that creates a limited 10 second bubble allowing you to suspend the fabric of space time. The charger needs an upgraded dino revolver, but it seems to be a little jammed in there at the moment."

From where he stood, Chase felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach as he listened to a variation of the same conversation repeat itself. This was sounding all too familiar.

"Wait! The charger slows down time itself?" Shelby gasped incredulously, "Oh sure, that sounds reasonable to me."

This time, Koda began to frown to himself recalling the same line of conversation from that morning. Out the corner of his eye, he also saw Chase glance at his wristwatch. Before anyone else could make a comment, he heard the Black Ranger speak up again,

"Sounds great Kendall! Koda and I will help you."

The other Rangers stopped and stared at Chase prompting him to squirm impatiently, "I know what all of you are going to say, but just trust me... it's fine... really... Koda and I will help. Right, big guy?"

The caveman gave a hesitant nod as the others cast strange looks and Kendall cleared her throat in confusion, "Um... ok. Thanks. I'll be working on the finishing touches today so meet me back in the lab this afternoon."

As the meeting adjourned awkwardly, Chase whirled around and grabbed Koda by the shoulders, "Koda... mate... something is very wrong here."

"I not understand," Koda grimaced in confusion, "We have same conversation this morning."

Chase pointed to his watch, "That's because it is this morning! Look! It's 8 AM again!"

The caveman blinked as Chase suddenly remembered his friend still hadn't quite grasped the concept of time. He decided to put it into simpler words, "I think we're right back to where we started Koda. Whatever happened to that dino charger, it screwed something up... badly."

"What we do now?" Koda asked with a worried expression spreading over his face.

"We pray that Kendall can fix this problem."

* * *

 **To be Continued...**


	2. Let's Do the Time Warp Again

"Wait a second. Let me try to get this straight," Kendall said as the Black and Blue Rangers followed her about her lab that morning. She crossed her arms with a skeptical frown, "You're telling me that we already ran a test with this morpher? Something went wrong, and the two of you were sent back in time... to this very moment?"

"I know it sounds crazy, but that's what really happened! You've got to believe us!" Chase pleaded.

The Purple Ranger rolled her eyes and gave a sigh, "Really Chase, it's one thing to make up crazy stories to get out of work today, but now you're trying to get Koda involved in your schemes?"

Chase frowned indignantly, "Come on Koda! Tell her! We're not making this up!"

"We are telling truth. Not lie to Kendall," the caveman nodded in earnest agreement.

Kendall frowned to herself as she continued to buzz about her lab taking data readings, "It's still pretty hard to believe the new charger failed. I don't make mistakes like that."

"Remember your first Super Charger?" Chase muttered quietly, "Or, what about that upgrade you had Tyler test out?"

The scientist gave a huff and frowned at him in annoyance.

"Think about it," Chase reasoned out loud, "This explains why the charger is already stuck in the new dino morpher, right? Maybe if you can find some way to remove it, time will go back to normal?"

The Purple Ranger picked up the prototype revolver and eyed it thoughtfully, "Ok. Let's assume what you said is true... that you went back in time. We have no idea what will happen if we tamper with the charger any further. There's a lot of advanced string theory and quantum mechanics involved when you start talking about time travel."

"But you can figure it out, right?" Koda asked hopefully, "You always do."

Kendall bit her lip in uncertainty, "I... don't know. The best I can do right now is run some tests and take more readings."

She stopped when she saw the disheartened look on both of the boys' faces. She wasn't quite sure what to think of their outlandish story, but it gave her a strange inkling of a feeling that maybe they weren't making this up. "Listen... why don't you both help the others upstairs in the museum? I'll call you when I find something out, ok?"

* * *

The workday passed uneventfully, exactly as Chase and Koda had remembered it before. In the kitchen, Ivan had burned his fingers on the stovetop when he got distracted by Riley needing help carrying a large sack of french fries. At the register, Tyler had struggled to take the orders of a large grade-school class that came into the museum for a field trip. As for Shelby, she slipped on the remnants of a fallen milkshake on the floor, dropping a tray full of food on a now angry customer. While a sight like that had been a little funny the first time, it now felt a bit unsettling... especially when the Black and Blue Rangers found themselves having the same conversations with their fellow Rangers that they did before.

At the end of the workday, the two friends hurried down to the lab where Kendall sat running more scans on the dino morpher as it sat connected to a computer.

"Well? Any progress?" Chase asked hopefully as Koda followed close behind, eying the morpher.

The Purple Ranger removed her glasses and rubbed her eyes, "As strange as it may seem, I think you were right. It seems like this morpher and charger have been test fired already. It's putting out slightly different energy signatures than the normal baseline readings I had originally set up. Whatever happened to this charger, I have reason to believe it may have caused some sort of stable reverse time skip when you fired it."

"So we actually reset time 8 hours?" Chase exclaimed in shock, "That sounds like something right out of Star Trek."

"Or Groundhog Day," Koda added causing his two friends to stop and stare at him. The caveman simply shrugged, "I watched the movie with Shelby."

The Black Ranger shook his head momentarily and held up the jammed prototype morpher, "So that's it? Is it going to happen again, or was this a one time thing?"

Kendall pinched the bridge of her nose, "Again... I don't know! Not yet anyway..."

Before they could say anything else, the three looked down in shock as the dino morpher lit up and activated automatically.

"What is going on now?" Koda asked fearfully as a bubble of bright turquoise energy flared out and blinded them in a brilliant white light.

 ***Loop***

"Chase! Are you even paying attention?" Again, the Black Ranger found himself in the lab looking directly into the face of an annoyed looking Kendall. Standing beside him was a bewildered looking Koda as well as the other Dino Charge Rangers.

"I... uh... no," he sighed.

Kendall shook her head with a sigh, "I was saying that I'm going to need some help with a new charger I'm developing. If I can get some work done today, it may be ready for testing by this afternoon."

As the others continued to talk and carry on the same conversation for the third time, Koda leaned over and whispered to his friend, "Chase... we start day all over again?"

"I'm afraid so mate," the Black Ranger replied quietly, "We're going to need to work together to figure this one out. Are you ready to do this all over again?"

The caveman nodded and chimed in just as they were asked for any volunteers, "Chase and I help Kendall!"

* * *

After the deja vu of convincing Kendall to help them, and reliving another surreal work shift, the two exhausted Rangers headed down to the basement lab where Kendall was already at work scanning the morpher. As they approached, the Purple Ranger held up a printout and turned toward them, "Chase... Koda... these readings are very unusual. They..."

"We know," Chase interrupted, "The energy signatures are different and it looks like a reverse time skip effect, yadda yadda yadda... or something like that."

Kendall stopped and frowned, "Yes... how did you..."

"We did this before," Koda explained while scratching his head, "For third time now."

The scientist chewed her lip and turned back to her equipment, "Fascinating... if that's the case, and assuming everything you've said is true... then it looks like the charger has created a sort of stable time loop!"

Chase cleared his throat in mild annoyance, "Kendall? I'm sure that's all really interesting... but how are we supposed to break free of the time bubble, or whatever it is that we're stuck in?"

She scratched her chin thoughtfully and eyed the morpher before glancing back up. "There's no possible way I can figure out how to solve this problem in eight hours. But... maybe if we found some way to lay the groundwork for a solution, we can build on it every time you and Koda loop back around."

"That sounds like lots of loops," Koda muttered in dread, "How long before we have answer?"

"I'm with Koda on this!" Chase exclaimed, "For all we know, this could take forever!"

The Purple Ranger crossed her arms indignantly, "This is the best I can do right now! Besides, you two literally have forever, considering your Energems grant you immortality."

Chase and Koda gave a crestfallen look as Kendall looked upon them sympathetically, "Listen... we've got to start somewhere. Now, pull out your dino coms. We're going to start with a little recorded message."

 ***Loop***

Having recorded a message from Kendall in the prior time loop, Chase and Koda showed it to the Rangers upon the start of the next cycle. While they were excused and allowed to sleep, Kendall and Riley immediately got to work on studying the jammed prototype revolver. After taking several hours to nap, Chase and Koda made their way back inside the lab where the Green and Purple Rangers were working.

"You fix morpher?" Koda asked hopefully as he peered over Riley's shoulder. While he did, he munched on a bowl of dry cereal he had taken from the kitchen.

"Not exactly," the younger Ranger said examining some readings from another console before turning his head, "And... what are you eating now?"

Chase ambled over toward Koda and popped a few bits of the colorful sugary cereal into his own mouth, "Fruit Loops... I think."

Riley stared at them before shaking his head, "Ms. Morgan and I have a working theory as to what's going on here and what we can do about it too."

They fixed their eyes on Kendall and she cleared her throat hesitantly, "We know that Chase and Koda have been caught in a time loop and are the only ones affected. In theory, that means they are the only ones who can even hope to stop the morpher at the exact moment that it resets time."

"We smash morpher?" Koda asked hesitantly.

Riley shrugged, "Either way, we believe that if you can destroy the morpher with your own weapons right when it resets, then it may break the time bubble."

"There's only one problem kiddo. Koda and I don't have enough time to do that either before we get zapped," Chase pointed out.

Kendall raised a finger, "True... but I may have a solution for that. We use the data readings of the prototype morpher to develop a new charger... one that will temporarily shield you from the effects of the time skip."

"Ok... well... it's not like we have a lot of time right now," the Black Ranger said checking his watch, "That thing is bound to go off again any minute."

Riley quickly punched some commands into the his computer console, "We're going to store the starting data of this new project in the prototype. It's up to you and Koda to eventually find the answer."

As the computer finished downloading the information, the eyes of the dino morpher glowed again and erupted in the familiar white flash of light.

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_  
 _ **Early shout out goes to the sharp eyes of Haylie Meyers from the last chapter! Anyone who knows me well, knows that I love the Stargate series. This story is adapting a couple elements from the brilliantly written SG-1 episode "Window of Opportunity." Hopefully my own creative twists will do it some justice and be a nice homage to the antics of Jack and Tealc.**_


	3. All the Time in the World

"No! No! You've got it all wrong," Chase said stepping toward the dry erase board and adjusting Riley's calculation, "This variable is supposed to be multiplied to the 5th power and the square root sign goes over there in the denominator... at least that's what I remember Kendall saying in the last loop."

"Huh... I'll be damned. You're right," Riley said correcting the mistake as the two worked alongside Koda and Kendall in the lab. "Who would have thought doing all this would make you a little better doing Physics problems?"

Nearby, Koda sat a table, puzzling over an engineering book until Kendall walked over with a sigh and turned it right-side up. "You know, I'm actually a little curious now. How many times have we... or rather, you, gone through the time loop?"

The Black and Blue Rangers exchanged a puzzled expression before Koda shrugged, "Hard to say. Lost count after twenty... I think."

Kendall and Riley exchanged another glance before Riley began doing more calculations on the dry erase board, "You know... as bad as this situation may seem, there's also an amazing upside to all of it."

"Oh really? And what is that?" Chase asked crossing his arms with a skeptical look.

"Well... think about it," Riley said thoughtfully, "If you and Koda are able to go back in time and cancel out everything that happened before... you can do anything... for as long as you want, without having to worry about any consequences... at all."

As he said that, Kendall slowly glanced up from her laptop and saw Koda quietly put his book down to give a sidelong look to Chase.

"Really? Anything?" Chase asked slowly as he walked past Kendall and headed for the door of the lab. "Excuse me."

Riley blinked and watched the Black Ranger suddenly depart before Koda cleared his throat and headed for the door too, "Uh... must take bathroom break."

The Green Ranger scratched his head and turned to look directly at Kendall who fixed him with a reproachful frown.

"What? What did I say?"

Upstairs in the restaurant dining area, Chase ambled over toward a table full of young attractive women who were busy laughing over their lunch. As he approached, he unbuttoned the top button of his shirt and smoothed his hair back. As he swiftly pulled up a chair, he sat down and flashed a charming smile, "Well hello there ladies..."

Meanwhile, Koda made his way toward the back of the kitchen where fresh orders were ready to be filled. Sitting before him were several trays filled with freshly cooked bronto-burgers. Taking one last look around to make sure no one was watching, Koda grabbed a burger in each hand and began to chow down.

 ***Loop***

"Gangway! Coming through!" Chase laughed as he pulled another kick flip and flew down the hallways of the museum on his skateboard. As shocked museum patrons jumped aside and let him skate past, the Black Ranger turned his head and gave an excited grin, "Come on Koda! You're going to have to do better than that to catch me!"

Not far behind, Koda sat upon his bicycle, pedaling quickly to keep up. As the caveman chased his friend through the museum, he tried to maintain his speed to keep balance, all while gripping his wobbling handlebars.

As Chase led the way into the crowded dining area, he saw Ivan standing over a table of customers, serving them their meals. With a wink, Chase rocketed by and swiped a hamburger from the tray, nearly knocking the startled knight over. "Thanks mate!"

After spinning on his heel to keep his balance, Ivan gave a frown and raised an angry fist, "Sir Chase! What is the meaning of this nonsense?"

He didn't have time to get a response as he turned and saw the burly form of a caveman on a bicycle careening toward him out of control.

"Uh oh," Koda gulped with wide eyes moments before impact.

 ***Loop***

"All right big guy, ready to set a new record?" Chase asked as he and his caveman companion strolled into the kitchen.

Koda grinned and slapped him a high five as the two spit off to avert the routine morning disaster. Near the front of the kitchen, Ivan was already grilling some chicken and cooking French fries at the same time. The Blue Ranger headed for the side door right as Riley walked in, struggling to carry a large sack of cut fries. In one motion, Koda grabbed the sack out of Riley's arms and reached out to grab Ivan's arm just as the knight turned in surprise. Giving a smile, Koda moved Ivan's hand away from the hot grill and slid the bag of fries down the counter into the fresh supply pile.

Up front, Chase strolled by the cash register where Tyler was struggling to ring up an order, trying to listen over the loud chatter of 20 young school children. As Chase greeted Tyler, he listened to the chatter and cleared his throat, "That'll be 15 bronto burger meals, 4 chicken sandwich meals, one bowl of soup for the teacher, hold the fries, and a fresh garden salad with lemonade for the lovely teacher's assistant."

Chase gave a flirtatious wink to the pretty student teacher who was helping to chaperone and she returned the smile. Chase grinned toward the Red Ranger and clapped his shoulder as he hurried by. Tyler could only blink in surprise, "Oh… uh, thanks Chase."

Weaving past a few of the children, Chase navigated through the dining room toward Shelby as the Pink Ranger lost her balance on the slippery floor. In a flash, the Black Ranger grabbed the tray in midair and slid it with a backhand motion onto the table, all while grabbing Shelby by the waist and spinning her around to catch her in a dipping pose. The people at the table made an impressed sound and applauded as Chase waggled his eyebrows to Shelby, causing her to stare at him in wonder.

If there was any sort of "moment" between them at all, it passed as Chase abruptly let go of Shelby and dropped her unceremoniously on the floor.

"Time!" he called, checking his watch as Koda gave a thumbs up from the kitchen. "A new world record!"

 ***Loop***

"Ok… we prank call Philip next," Koda giggled as he and Chase sat at the desk in Kendall's office. While the caveman dialed numbers on the main phone, Chase sat in Kendall's chair, spinning around before he kicked his feet up on the desk. All the while, a little impromptu party carried on around them in the large office. The two Rangers had invited several friends from outside of work to join them for dancing, music, and snacks in that wing of the museum.

"Better yet mate, if it's going all the way to Zandar, then call him collect," the Black Ranger said, giving Koda a wink.

Moments later, Kendall angrily burst into her office witnessing the uncalled for festivities, "Chase! Koda! What the hell do you two think you're doing?"

Chase grinned toward the outraged Purple Ranger and made a quiet gesture, "Hey! You're being very rude Kendall. Can't you see Koda is on the phone?"

Kendall placed her hands on her hips with her eyebrow twitching in growing fury. All the while, the party in her office was going on despite her presence, "I can't believe what I'm seeing!"

"What?" Chase asked innocently, "You've never seen a caveman make a phone call before?"

 ***Loop***

And so it went for several more time loops. Some cycles were very productive and made progress toward a solution for the faulty morpher. Other cycles were simply used by Chase and Koda to blow off steam and divert their anxieties that they might not be able to restore things to normal. At first, the time loops were fun and novel. After all, it wasn't every day that one could do all the things they wished they could without any consequences, or fear of aging. But over the course of a few time skips, the blessing began to feel a little bit like a curse too.

That was what Chase began to ponder as he sat off by himself in a quiet side room of the underground caves. As he sat alone glumly sipping a cup of soda from upstairs, he saw Koda approach from the cave entrance. The caveman gave a curious look to his friend, and sensing he was troubled, sat down beside him.

"Kendall say we are getting close," Koda said trying to sound cheerful, "We go back to lab and help her?"

"Yeah… I guess so," the Black Ranger sighed, leaning back against the cave wall and playing with his straw.

Koda furrowed his brow, "Something… is bothering you?"

Chase grimaced slightly and drummed his fingers on the floor, "I don't know Koda... maybe. I was just thinking about everything we've been through recently. It kinda got me wondering… what's the point?"

Koda curiously raised an eyebrow, prompting Chase to explain himself further, "What I mean is, what's the point in being able to do all this fun stuff if none of it really lasts? It'll all just go back to the way it was in a few hours anyway."

Koda gave a thoughtful nod, "Like helping friends from trouble at work?"

"Exactly," Chase said, "We could help them. We could create amazing pieces of art. We could flirt with every girl in the museum and get their phone number, but in the end, none of those good things would last or mean anything because no one would remember. I don't like it Koda. It's not a good way to exist."

The caveman gave a deep sigh, nodding in agreement as he put a hand on his friend's shoulder, "I think about time a lot now too. I think... we have way to go back and change things. Part of me wonders, if we can find way to go back and help little brother... to save him, and still be with my old family."

The Black Ranger cast a sympathetic glance over to Koda, "I know what you mean mate, but time travel... well, it's kind of a tricky thing. If you and I went all the way back and changed history like that... well, things might be a whole lot different. Chances are, you wouldn't have been frozen in the ice. Kendall wouldn't have found you, and the three of us probably wouldn't have met and become friends. Maybe our Ranger team wouldn't even exist as we know it."

"I don't like that idea," Koda frowned to himself, "I can't imagine life now without Kendall, you, or other Rangers too."

"I know Koda. That's why we've got to do our best to get out of here and set things right again. Are you with me?"

Chase gently nudged his friend in the shoulder and extended a fist. At that, the caveman smiled and returned the fist bump. "All right big guy. Kendall needs our help. It's time we stopped feeling sorry for ourselves and get back to work. What do you say?"

* * *

 **To Be Concluded...**


	4. Chase and Koda's Excellent Adventure

"All right, I think we've finally got it," Kendall said proudly as she presented two new blue colored chargers to her first two Rangers. "It took some time, but after all the data that was accumulated from the prototype, I think we have just the means to shield you guys from the effects of the next time skip."

"And not a moment too soon," Chase observed as the three of them stood in the lab and he checked his watch. Luckily, they still had a few minutes to spare.

"So we use charger, then destroy the bad morpher," Koda summarized, "Sounds like good plan to me."

"Be aware," Kendall said, these specialized shield chargers will probably only hold up for one use. After that, you wouldn't get another shot."

The caveman examined the new charger cautiously, "Um... what if new charger goes wrong, like the light blue one?"

"It's a good point Koda," Chase chimed in putting a hand on his shoulder, "But it's a chance we're going to have to take if we want to go home. Speaking of which, we should probably suit up, yeah?"

The Blue Ranger nodded and the two morphed before loading the new shield chargers into thier pistols. As they did, the three of them watched as the prototype morpher began to light up again and trigger a new time loop. Just before the prototype could detonate, the two Rangers fired their new chargers and watched as their own shimmering blue bubbles of energy enveloped them.

"All right Koda, now is our chance!" Chase called as the two braced themselves against the flashing light of the incoming time rift. As the light coming from the prototype morpher spread across the room, the two Rangers stopped and stared in awe while the temporal energy swept across their own bubble shields and caused the air to ripple and distort.

After a tense few seconds, Chase and Koda saw that the shield chargers had worked and temporarily suspended the effects of the faulty morpher before them.

"Time to go home?" Koda asked brandishing his dino revolver and pointing it at the prototype on the lab table.

"Let's do it," Chase agreed taking aim with his own pistol.

The two Rangers pulled the triggers of their dino revolvers in unison and watched as the combined blaster shots struck the prototype, blowing it completely apart. As the smoke cleared, Chase and Koda saw the fractured turquoise charger remain on the table, vibrating with pulsing energy as the temporal distortion began to correct itself. The air rippled again and the two Rangers saw that their bubble shields that had been protecting them dissipated. In their place were two fizzled out chargers in the Rangers' pistols.

While things reverted back to real-time for a moment, the two Rangers disengaged the burnt-out shield chargers and powered down as Kendall hurried over beside them to stare at the unusual phenomenon occurring in her lab. "You did it! I can't believe it actually worked!"

"Uh… Kendall? What is happening now?" Koda asked with uneasiness as the turquoise charger continued to glow and vibrate while the environment around the three blurred in and out of focus.

The Purple Ranger gave a perplexed frown as she glanced at the computer tablet in her hand, "If I had to guess? I'd say the rift in time-space is correcting itself. If you guys were successful, then this should be the last time the loop resets itself."

The caveman gave a visible sigh of relief and lowered his dino morpher, "Good. Will be glad to go back to normal."

"There's nothing else you want to be able do before time resets itself?" Chase asked curiously.

Koda shook his head, "No. You?"

The Black Ranger scratched his chin and gave a thoughtful look amid the swirling light of the time stream, "Well... I guess there is one other little thing."

Kendall raised a curious eyebrow, "Oh? What's that?"

Chase turned toward her and gave a calm smile, "I wanted to tell you that I quit."

The Purple Ranger blinked in genuine surprise, "What? Quit? What on earth are you talking about?"

"Just for today. I'm quitting my job at the museum, and as a Power Ranger."

"Why would you ever do that?" she asked in confusion.

"Simple," he said with a playful wink as he put an arm around her and pulled her close, "If you're not my boss anymore, then I can do this."

Before she could reply, he planted a big kiss on her lips and dipped her dramatically. The Purple Ranger gave a startled squeak and dropped her tablet on the floor before slowly relaxing in his arms. While it looked like she might have started reciprocating the kiss, Koda could only stand and stare in wide-eyed shock.

 ***Loop***

"Chase, are you even paying attention?"

As the Black Ranger's vision came back into focus from the fading light of the final time loop, he found himself standing back in the lab facing Kendall across the table with a big goofy grin plastered on his face. Without skipping a beat, he shook his head proudly, "No Kendall. I didn't hear a single word you just said."

After he spoke, he felt Koda give him a sharp elbow in the side along with a slightly reproving frown while the other Rangers stood staring at him.

"Oh come on Koda! I thought it would be hilarious," Chase said.

The Purple Ranger adjusted her glasses and raised an eyebrow pointedly, "What exactly is so funny about all this?"

"Nothing," Koda sighed rolling his eyes toward Chase and giving a sigh, "Not important."

Kendall shook her head to herself, "As I was saying… I'm going to need some help testing out a new charger today and..."

The two boys glanced toward each other in alarm before they saw Kendall stop in surprise. In her hand was a cracked, burnt-out turquoise colored charger. In the other was the ruined frame of the prototype morpher.

"I… what?" Kendall gasped in alarm, "How did this happen? These were in perfect condition this morning."

Shelby leaned over and whispered in Tyler's ear, "Uh oh. I think Ms. Morgan is totally losing her mind."

While Kendall stood dumbfounded by the ruined equipment on her table, Riley piped up, "Um… Ms. Morgan? What was that stuff supposed to do anyway?"

"I had a new charger and morpher that could slow down time… at least I thought I did."

Chase walked over with a reassuring laugh and put a friendly hand on her shoulder, "Slow down time? Come on Kendall. Now you're just talking crazy. You were probably just overworked... you fell asleep here, then dreamed the whole thing up."

"I… well… maybe," Kendall sighed while Koda came over and quickly dumped the ruined equipment into a nearby disposal bin.

"Meeting over?" the caveman prompted.

The Purple Ranger nodded slowly and scratched her head, "I suppose so. Um, sorry for dragging you down here everyone."

As the others filed out of the lab, Koda took one more look around before ambling over, "No more time skips?"

Kendall glanced at the Black Ranger, "What is he talking about Chase?"

"Um, trust me Kendall, it's a long complicated story," he said leading her toward the elevator headed upstairs, "You probably wouldn't believe us if we told you."

"Really? Tell me," she insisted, "I've got all the time in the world."

Chase and Koda exchanged a slow look before simply erupting into a loud gale of laughter.

* * *

 _ **Epilogue:  
**_  
Prince Philip the III of Zandar sat quietly in the outdoor gardens of the royal estate. His mother, the late Queen Irene, had a tradition of hosting an annual Spring Luncheon and invited several diplomats from neighboring countries to come discuss matters of state and international trade. It had been a beautiful mild day and everyone was dressed in their finest suits and Spring dresses. Despite the beautiful flowers, the posh colorful table settings, and the pleasant sounds of classical music coming from a nearby pavilion, it was still dreadfully boring.

As the young prince continued to cut into his chicken dish and give a resigned yawn, he suddenly felt his personal phone vibrate from within his gray suit coat. He set down his utensils and pulled the phone out. Without checking the caller ID, he answered the phone, grateful for any distraction. To his surprise, he heard an automated voice speak to him, "This is a collect call from… Sledge. Will you accept the charges?"

Philip's eyes went wide and he frowned. He could almost swear when he heard "Sledge" that it was in Koda's voice along with another giggling person in the background. How could that be? Sledge had been destroyed, hadn't he? Perhaps the monster had returned? Even worse, maybe he took Koda hostage and the Rangers needed his help! But why hadn't they called him? Unless they were in trouble too!

The Prince's mind began to race as he answered "Yes."

As the call was connected, he heard the sound of laughter from two muffled voices on the other end die away, "Oh crap! He actually answered! Hang up mate! Hang up!"

The Prince frowned in confusion as the call abruptly ended and he saw that the number was unlisted. Behind him, he sensed the presence of Martin, one of his family's loyal bodyguards, "Prince Philip, is something the matter? Who was that?"

He began to scroll through his phone directory to find Kendall's number before giving a calm shrug, "Just a couple of pranksters Martin. Nothing to worry about."

"But they've got your personal phone number," the royal bodyguard said in concern, "Are you really sure?"

Phillip smiled to himself and began to place a call to Amber Beach, "Don't worry Martin. I'm sure whoever those jokers are, they'll get what's coming to them."

* * *

 **A/N:**  
 **In addition to those elements previously mentioned, special acknowledgements also go toward the authors** ** _ImaSupernaturalCSI_** **and** ** _Lily Hanson_** **. A few minor story elements in this fic are small creative nods of respect toward their own great stories. Thanks again!**


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